PART 4 exhibition planning
With the present complete lockdown, I’m not in a position to physically view The Robert Phillips Gallery in the Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre which I have now secured for an exhibition from 30 March to 5th April 2021. However I do know the space as I have been to exhibitions there some years ago but I am working from memory. The gallery has sent me a floor plan as well as information about hiring the space. The aim of the complex is to promote a wide range of established and emerging artists – international and local. Publicity for exhibition is through their tri-annual brochure which can offer a half page description of the exhibition and images. The Arts Centre has an email list of 4,500 recipients and they use social media to display photos of the exhibition.
The Robert Phillips Gallery is a beautiful, purpose built, skylit gallery space, with vaulted ceilings and flexible hanging space. It hosts a wide variety of exhibitions, from touring national collections to artists exhibiting their own work. The Gallery is open Monday to Saturday from 10am-4pm and Sunday 11am-4pm.
While the gallery provides excellent wall facilities for viewing the work, I need to ensure that the important message of ‘listening’ to the earth is provided for in the curating of the exhibition. This will require a level of quiet in the gallery which I am concerned may be difficult to achieve. I’ve raised this with the director of the Art Centre and am waiting a reply
At the same time as securing this gallery space, I plan to consider alternate possibilities in the event of the gallery being unable to open for visitors. I am beginning to plan the possibility of mounting the exhibition in the Gallery and having it professionally videoed for viewing online as scheduled in April. A physical exhibition would then take place later in the year when restrictions are lifted. This idea of a video of the exhibition deals with the present Government restrictions necessary at this time but it also gives some excellent advantages. With careful and creative planning, it provides the opportunity for a wider dimension of the work to be presented. I can see possibilities for incorporating views of the garden which has been my inspiration for the body of work as well as the spoken word. It then can be seen as a forerunner to the exhibition itself. As I’ve noted in the previous post on exhibition planning , the viewer of both the online exhibition and the physical exhibition “will complete the …..(paintings), in the process bringing to it his or her own experiences.” It will also reach a far wider audience.
Pursuing this course of action enables me to get on and plan properly and that, at the moment, seems impossible with so much uncertainty.